Ten Years Sleeping
by Wolfwithakindheart
Summary: A seven year old girl named Rose Silver was playing with her best freind at the beach on the Fourth of July when tragedy struck. Something happened to Roses dear freind. Will he survive,and how will Rose take it?


**Ten Years Sleeping**

**Ten Years Sleeping**

The Fourth of July. The day that everyone is suppose to celebrate right? That day you get apple pie and fireworks, sparklers and you remember how the U.S of A got its independence. Everyone is suppose to be happy that day right? Wrong; I never celebrate that day, not ever. Why you ask? Well, I don't celebrate that day because of him.

I was 7 and he was 8. We were playing out on the beach, having fun just like your suppose to on The Fourth of July. His mother watched us splash around in the ocean with a smile on her face. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed farther away from the shore.

"Look Rose!" I followed his finger until I saw a huge rock towering out of the water. It looked as big as a mountain, from where we were. "Let's go climb it!" He yelled as he splashed away from me and to the big rock. I splashed after him as fast as I could go.

"Be careful!" His mother called from the shore.

"We will!" I called back.

When we finally reached the rock, the water was already past our knees, but he didn't care that his jeans were getting wet so I didn't care either. The rock was rough and jagged on the front side, but the back side was smooth, so we had no trouble climbing it.

Once we made it to the top, the sun had almost disappeared underneath the now red waves of the ocean.

"We can see the whole world!" He cried out in excitement.

"Yeah! Isn't it great?" I said stretching up on my tip-toes to see even higher. I could feel the sea salted wind gently blowing on my face. My long, strawberry blond hair for which I was named streamed out behind me.

"Hey Rose," He said in a sad, quite voice. I turned to look at him. He was sitting on the rock, his keens tucked into his chest. "If I asked you to keep a promise, would you, no matter how crazy it sounds?" I sat down beside him and said,

"Yeah! We are best friends right?"

" 'Course we are, for life!" He said cheering up a little. I shook my head up and down till I looked like a bobble –head doll.

"In ten years, promise you will come to this exact spot on this exact day so we can see each other again. And no matter what, we will meet, ok?" He was moving to Japan with his mother tomorrow because of business reasons. I was so sad when he first told me because Japan was so far away and I thought we could never see each other again. I cried for a long time, but no matter how much we begged our parents, they would not let him stay. So we decided that we should have as much fun as we could before he left. That was why we were there, to have lots of fun before he left.

I looked back out at the red ocean and said, "I'll be here, no matter what. I promise." I held out my hand, pinky extended, and we made a pinky promise to be here in ten years, when he was 18 and I was 17.

After our promise, his mother called

"Come on guys! Time to go!" We scrambled back down the rock and raced back to the shore. I helped his mother pack up as he looked around for something.

"Rose! Here's your hat!" He handed me my daddy's baseball cap. It was the last thing I had of him and he knew that it was special to me.

I took it from him and put it on my head. "Thanks!" I said to him, smiling. Once we had everything packed, we got in the car and headed to C C's Pizza for dinner. We played a while in the arcade and used up all of his mothers quarters.

"This was the best day ever!" I said as we walked out in the parking lot back to his mother's car. He took a big gulp of his Coke and replied,

"No not ever, the best day in the whole universe!" He stretched out his arms to show the universe. His mother laughed and ruffled his sandy blond hair with her hand.

"I'm glad you had fun." Just then, a strong breeze blew my father's hat of.

"Oh no! Daddy's hat!" I ran after it but his mother stopped me, but while she was holding me back, he ran after it.

"Don't worry Rose! I'll get it!" He ran after it as the wind blew it further away from me and his mom.

"No! Come back here this instant!" His mother yelled at him, but he ignored her calls and kept casing my dad's hat. He grabbed it and held it up waving it back and forth.  
>"I got it Rose!" I smiled, but my smile quickly became a mask of terror. What he hadn't noticed was that he had followed my father's hat all the way out on to the road. Another thing he didn't notice was the huge Ford truck heading straight for him.<p>

His mother released me and raced for her son screaming his name. I stood there, frozen in terror. At first, he didn't seem to understand what was happening. Then he heard the truck honking and its breaks squealing as it tried to stop, but it was going too fast.

I closed my eyes , and heard four things: his mother scream, "NNNNNNNOOOOOOO!" a sickening sound of crunching bones, the sound of something landing on the ground with a loud THUD, and screams and shrieks of surprise from the by-passers.

I slowly opened my eyes and what I saw gave me nightmares for the rest of my life. It was him, lying on the ground, crumbled, broken and bleeding. His mother was on the ground beside him crying. Tears started to flow silently down my face as well. _No!_ I had thought. _No he can't be dead! We made a promise to meet on the rock in ten years!_

His mother was screaming at him to wake up, and the people who had witnessed the accident were pulling out the phones and dialing 911. I still stood silently staring at my best-friend laying in his mother's arms as she cried over him.

My tears flowed endlessly. I tried to move forward, to him to wake up but I couldn't move. I was frozen to the spot, not breathing, not blinking, and not thinking anything but _No, he's not dead, he's not dead._

It wasn't long until the ambulance came, sirens blaring and lights flashing. When they were putting his mangled bloody body on a stretcher, I saw my dad's hat in his hand, with blood splatters on it. I lost it then. I fell to the concrete, screaming and crying and pounding the ground with my fist until they were bleeding too.

I didn't know how but a paramedic in a ugly blue uniform suddenly scooped me up and carried me to the ambulance. I screamed at him to put me down, and beat his chest staining it with my blood, but he just kept walking. He put me down in the front seat to the ambulance and started to talk to me saying calming reassuring things as a woman in the same ugly uniform treated my bleeding hands.

The ride to the hospital was a long one, at least that's how it seemed. Along the way the man kept me talking, to keep me calm. But no matter how hard he tried, I could still hear his mothers scream coming from the back of the ambulance. I never stopped crying.

Now you know why I never celebrate The Fourth of July, because I almost lost my best-friend that day. I am now 17, in same hospital room he was first brought to, holding his hand and talking to him ten years after the accident. I was hoping he would talk back but deep down I knew he would never talk back to me, even though I would never say it out loud.

He had been asleep for those ten years not moving, not talking, and hardly breathing. It is part of his daily treatment for me to come in and talk to him about my day. Even if it wasn't part of his daily treatment, I would still come here every morning before school to visit and talk to him.

It was June 22, almost The Fourth of July, and I was strangely hopeful that he would wake up today as if he would remember the promise we made ten years ago. But the doctors said he wouldn't be waking up for a long, long time or maybe not at all. At first I didn't believe them at all, but now, ten years later I was starting to believe them.

Again tears started to roll down my checks. I had cried so many times in this room. Time and time again I told myself, 'At least he's not dead, at least he's still alive.' But no matter how many times I told myself, I still cried, because what was the whole point of being alive when you can't move, talk, and _live_ a normal life?

"Rose?" A soft quite voice said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Nurse Amy, holding her clip-board, standing in the doorway pointing at the clock. "You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry." I looked at the clock, 5: 23. Yup, she was right, I needed to get going.

I turned back to him, and almost started to cry again as I saw how pitiful he was. Eye's closed, pale skin, motionless, with tubes stuck in him.

"I gotta go now, but I'll be back this afternoon, ok?" No response, just as I was expecting. I sighed and followed Nurse Amy back out into the hall way.

I missed him so much, because he was my best-friend, because I couldn't hear his voice in so long I had almost forgotten what it sounded like, because I wanted to see his beautiful, deep blue eyes, because I wanted to laugh and joke around with him, because we had a promise to keep, because he was Shane.

**Class**

"Rose!" I looked up to see Ethan waving at me with a huge smile on his face. I sighed.

"Ethan, what did I tell you about waiting for me?" Because it was part of Shane's treatment, I was excused if I was late but Ethan wasn't.

"To not too… but I just to ask you if you wanted to go out with Mac, Jessie and me on the Fourth."  
>"The Fourth of July?"<p>

"Well, yeah, what else would the Fourth mean?" He said shrugging his shoulders. "Wait; are you, like, hanging out with your Mom that day?"

"N-no! My Mom doesn't have the time for that…it's just…" I trailed off. I didn't know why but if I wasn't at the rock at the Fourth, I knew it would feel wrong, but I didn't want to tell Ethan, _'Oh, I'm sorry; I can't go with you guys because I have to go wait for a friend that's been sleeping for ten years at a big rock on the beach.' _

"Do you have plans already?" Ethan knew about Shane, but he didn't know about the promise. He also thought I had gotten over the accident (which was a total lie). Ever since that day, I have never celebrated the Fourth. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

" 'Sorta… I don't really know." I said walking past him and into the main gate. He followed and said,

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you had plans. You don't have to come if you don't want to." I didn't say anything to him, so the walk to homeroom was a quite one.

We had just walked into the classroom when the bell rang. Mr. Smith gave Ethan a cross look, and he hurried to his seat. I sighed and walked to my seat next to Jessie.

When I sat down, she checked to see if Mr. Smith was watching (which he wasn't) and whispered,

"What's wrong?" Jess had a good talent of seeing if something was troubling someone. It was like she could see it plain on their faces, and once she asked you that question she wouldn't stop until got an answer.

Mr. Smith was calling roll, so I leaned over and whispered back, "Ethan asked me if I wanted to go out with you guys on the Fourth." She gasped and I jumped back into my seat when Mr. Smith heard Jess's gasp.

"Sorry Mr. Smith, I just remembered that I left my phone in Rose's car, sorry!" Jess also had a good talent for selling lies. She looked very believable even if she never left her phone anywhere.

Mr. Smith humfed and continued to call roll. As soon as Mr. Smith was focused on roll, Jess passed me a note. I unfolded it and read. It said,

_I'm so sorry Rose! I told him not to ask u, but of course he wouldn't listen to me. I know the Fourth is a very bad day 4 u._ I looked at her, but she was coping down our lunch for today.

Unlike Ethan and Mac, Jess knew about everything that happened that day, including the promise I made with Shane. I wrote,

_It's OK. I told him I had plans and that it was no big deal._ Then passed it back to her; She read it, smiled, scribbled something else and passed it back.

_That's good to hear, well read, and I'll beat Ethan up for u after class._I laughed quietly and wrote,

_Sure, u can do what you want. I have no way of stopping u, but could u at least hold off on the beating until tomorrow? I want to have my video camera with me when u beat down on him._

I passed the note back to Jess with a smile on my face. She read it, smiled too, and nodded. Then the bell rang for us to go to our next class, which was art.

In the hallway, Ethan walked up to us to go to art together. We all had art together with Mac. That's why I loved art so much, because all my friends were with me and we were allowed to make a mess.

As we three walked into the art room, we read the board to see what we were going to do today. It said we were going to paint a mural on the gym wall. I was really good with paint, and so was Ethan, but Jess, not so much. Everyone (except Jess) was excited about what we were doing today. We hardly ever get to use the paint, and rarely get to paint on the school walls.

We all sat down at our table and waited for Mrs. Crow and Mac to get there. Mac got there first. He still looked like he just rolled out of bed, his muddy colored brown hair, sticking out everywhere. He had two bluish, blackish bruises under his bright green eyes, his shirt wasn't tucked in and his tie was missing. My guess was that he stayed up all night working on some car or playing a video game and slept all homeroom. The usual Mac.

He didn't even say hey as he sat down. He just cleared a spot on the table and laid his head down. We all looked at each other, our faces saying the same thing, 'Should we wake him up?' We all silently decided to just let him sleep this once, because he looked real tired, and we all turned our attention to Mrs. Crow, who had just walked into the room.

"Class, as you can see on the board, we are going to paint a mural on the outside wall of the gym. Now we can't just paint random stuff, can we?" The class was silent so she went on.

"No, we need to pick a theme, like the beach, the ocean, the jungle, a forest, the mountains or a city. I'm leaving this up to you students to decide a theme. I want all of you in your group to decide on one theme. Then, after ten minutes, I will ask each group what theme they choose. Then I will write the six different themes on the board for you all to choose from. Whatever theme gets the most votes is what we will paint. Any questions?" Again the room was silent. "Alright, get started!" She clapped her hands together, and then turned back to her desk.

"I say we do the beach." Jess said looking at me. I nodded and looked at Mac. He was still sleeping like a baby. I reached over the table and shook his shoulder.

"Get away zombie!" He yelled as he jumped up. I fell back into my chair, crossed my arms and said,

"I'm not a zombie last time I checked. Lay off the video games will ya?" Mac just shrugged and I continued. "Pick a place, any place at all. Me and Jess have chosen the beach and Ethan has_" He cut me off.

"The woods. I choose the woods." We all looked at Ethan. The wood was the last place I thought you would find Ethan. He was good with computers and other electronic devices, but he wasn't a shut in like all the other computer crazy people at this school. That was one of the reasons we hung out with him, and he had a real fun personality.

"What?" He asked looking at our faces.

"Nothing it's just we thought you would choose, oh I don't know a computer lad or something." Jess said twirling a lock of her deep chocolate brown hair around her finger.

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean?" We all started laughing. After we got rid of our giggles, I asked Mac again.

"So what are you going to choose?" He thought for moment then said back to me,

"I'll choose the same thing as Ethan. The woods." Now this wasn't to shocking for Mac. He was an outdoors person. He hunted, fished and went camping all the time; although, he loved to work on cars, and play X-Box.

"Looks like we have a tie." Jess said. I nodded and leaned over to whisper in her ear,

"Let's let them have it this time. It's too early in the morning to be fighting." Jess agreed and we told the boys we would choose the woods too. So, when Mrs. Crow came around we all said woods.

The final results were the beach, the woods, the city, the beach again, and the city. We voted the woods and the woods won. I didn't mind. The woods could be real fun. Ethan and I could draw animals real well and I could make trees, so it would be fine. Jess could draw flowers beautifully, so I could just go back over them with paint. Mac was the master with trees, bushes and leaves. This was going to be real fun.

Paint Wars

"Hey! Watch it!" I said to Mac. We were up on a platform against the outside gym wall. Mac had just flung some green paint on my arm.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there." He didn't sound sorry at all, and he knew I was right beside him.

I narrowed my eyes and continued working on my woodpecker. I waited until I was sure Mac wasn't looking and flung red paint right in his face.

I watched as a shocked expression crossed his face. "Oh no you didn't!"

"Oh yes I did!" After I said that I scrambled down the little ladder and onto the ground. I heard him following. As soon as I hit the ground, I ran to hide behind the big old oak tree. I put my back flat against the rough bark of the tree and listened.

He was looking, I could hear him, but he wasn't looking behind the oak tree so I relaxed. Today was a nice day. It was hot, but a cool breeze was blowing.

"Ms. Sliver," I jumped and opened my eyes. Ah, it was just Mrs. Crow. "What are you doing down here?" I just pointed behind me. She saw Mac with a paint brush, coated in purple paint, and smiled.

"Oh I see. Stay here." I nodded. Mrs. Crow was very nice and had a good sense of humor. All the students here at Bellford Academy liked her.

She walked away and past Mac without casting a second glance. Once she was past Mac, she headed for the paint cans stacked in a pile under another tree. She grabbed a big wide brush, opened a can, and stuck it in the yellow paint. I smiled, and then quickly pulled back behind the tree again.

Mac was getting closer. I stepped on a twig and it snapped; I froze.

"Mac!" Mrs. Crow called.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Come here please." Mrs. Crows voice sounded like Mac was in trouble. Because of that Mac forgot about the snapping twig and rushed over to her.

I carefully poked my head out from behind the tree and watched.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Well…..ummmm…" I Held back a laugh as Mac fumbled for words. While Mac was fumbling, Mrs. Crow looked up at me and motioned for me to come closer. _Ah I get it! She'll attack him from the front. And I will from the back._

I stealthy crept forward, not making a sound. I avoided twigs and stepped very lightly. Mac would never see me coming.

"Well out with it Mac!" Mrs. Crow said in a stern voice. Macs back was turned towards me so I couldn't see his expression.

_One more stop, one more…_ I was right behind Mac now. _Wait for it…. Wait for it…_ I was waiting for Mrs. Crow signal.

"Mac," She said with her eyes closed. ""You should really..." Then she opened her eyes and winked. The signal! I raised my arm, which still had the paint brush from earlier. "Watch out!" Mrs. Crow finished loudly as she slung the yellow paint covered brush all over his art clothes. I did the same with my paint brush.

"Ahhh man!" Mac said backing away from Mrs. Crow and I. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Mac looked like hot-dog with extra mustard. Mrs. Crow was chuckling as she dropped the pain brush back in the paint can.

Then I got a huge, cold, wet surprise from above. I screamed and jumped forward, dripping wet.

I whipped around and saw Ethan and Jess dropping a huge bucket, with water still dripping out off it.

I was angry for a minute, but I soon started to laugh with them. Now everyone who was still working on the mural was looking down trying to figure out what was going on.

"Alright, you guys had your fun, now Ethan and Jess get back to your spot." They nodded and jogged back to one of the ladders still laughing. "Mac, go back to your dorm and get a shower. Quickly before that paint dries in your hair.

"Mac, you should leave it in! You would look real great with red and yellow highlights." I joked.

"Sure I will, sure." Mac said back to me. "See you later!" Mac took off, running for the boy's dorm.

"Rose, you should go back to your dorm and change out off those wet clothes before you catch a cold."

"Yes ma'am, I will. Just make sure to tell everyone to stay away from my fox and woodpecker. There still wet." I said walking away backwards. Mrs. Crow nodded and I turned and raced off towards the girl's dorm.

All the doors in the dorms had a key pad, so the only way to get in was to type in the pass code. The pads had both numbers and letters so you could choose a number code or a word code or both. Security was no problem at Bellford. I punched in my pass code and stepped inside.

Once I was in I quickly changed into warmer clothes because my hair was wet. I loved my room. I had it all to myself, no roommate to bug me. My room was on the top floor, first door on the right, room 311. It was bigger than most rooms. I guess you could call it a suite. I have the suite because my mom is the CEO of some big company and she gets tons of money. That's how I could afford to go to Bellford in the first place, and get this suite.

I was just about to leave for art, when the phone rang. I did a one-eighty back into the living room and snatched it of the receiver.

"Hello, Rose Silver of Bellford Academy speaking." That was how we were supposed to answer the phone, but I thought a good 'hi what' cha want?' would suffice.

"Hi Rose, its mom."

"Mom! How is it going?" My mom called me frequently but hardly ever came in person because of her work.

"It's going great. The company is going to expand soon. "  
>"That is great Mom." I didn't really like talking to her about her work but I did it out of politeness. "Why did you call?" If I knew my mom (which I'm pretty sure I do) I knew that she wouldn't call just to check on me or talk about work.<p>

"I've got big news! Your cousin is coming to Bellford Academy!" My cousin? I had a cousin?

"I have a cousin?" I repeated out loud.

"Yes, darling, of course you do. Her name is Raven Waterfeather, and she is a really nice girl. She is going to be staying in your room at Bellford. Being in that room all alone… I wanted you to share your high school life with someone." Idiot Mom; I had friends that could come over anytime, I had a life.

After the accident, my mom had treated me real special. The accident was before she became CEO though, so now she always gave me the best of the best to 'make-up' for not doing so before.

"OK Mom, when is she coming over?" I said this in a cherry voice but I was rubbing my forehead in frustration.

"She will be there in two days, alright?"

"Got it Mom, now I have to get back before I miss class."

"I'll let you go then, and keep those grades up sweetie."

"I will bye!" Then I hung up with a sigh. So much for my alone time now. In two days, I was going to have a new roommate. It wasn't like I didn't want to share my room. I didn't mind that much at all (As long as she could follow my rules and stay out of my way while cleaning). What was bothering me the most was what this Raven girl was going to be like? Would she down-to-earth or preppy? Would she be shy and quite or would she be outspoken and loud? And most of all, would we get along?

I shook my head and shoved my worries to the back of my mind. She wasn't coming until two days so I could worry about that later. Right now, what I needed to worry about was weather to go back to art class and only be there for a few minutes, or just go ahead and go to my next class. I might as well go to my next class, which was drivers-Ed. But I already had my driver's licenses and a car (it was silver Lamborghini with black details and Scissor doors that Mac drooled on every time he saw it). I walked out the door and locked it behind me.

Jess, Ethan and Mac still had the class and they all took it on the same hour so it left me with a big, empty hour to do whatever I wanted. Sometimes, I went to the green house on campus or stayed in my room and napped. Other times I would drive around town just looking for something interesting to do. Most of the time I went down to the hospital to help with Shane's physical stimulation; I did this so much I always have a portable radio, some kind of candy, a flashlight, and different stuff to decorate his room in my car. I bring all this stuff because it causes different stimulation besides physical, hearing (the radio) taste (the candy) and sight (the flashlight and stuff). The touch sense Nurse Amy and I held his hand, massage his shoulders, and bent his knees, arms, and back. Nurse Amy and Nurse Emily took care of his…ah baths. It just didn't seem right for me to bath him.

His mother would have helped the two nurses but she passed away not to long after Shane's coma. His dad separated from his mom while he was still a baby. He had an older sister but she had all ways dreamed of going to this collage somewhere in England so her Mom pushed her to go. She went reluctantly because she didn't want to leave Shane behind. She came back every Christmas and Thanksgiving and sometimes during Easter. Shane also had a big brother but he just up and disappeared one day. Shane's family all went down-hill after he got hit by that truck. So that left me and Nurse Amy to visit him daily.

By now I was out in the parking lot heading towards my silver Lamborghini. I pushed a button on my car key remote and the Scissor doors slowly started to open. Once I reached the silver Lamborghini I slid inside and pressed the same button to close the door.

As I waited for the doors to close completely, I checked to make sure I had everything I needed, and buckled my seat belt. Today Shane was going to get a taste of Rainbow Sour Extremes. He couldn't actually chew the food but he could taste it (at least the doctors were pretty sure he could). But one thing the doctors were sure of (besides the fact that he was alive) was that he could hear, but he just couldn't respond. This made me immensely happy when they first told me, but they quickly crushed my happiness by saying 'This doesn't mean he will wake up.' Stupid dream crushers.

I drove in silence. I usually put turned on the radio, or choose from my neat tidy CD storage case but I never did on the way to the hospital. I just was never in the right mood. I was always thinking, and more so hoping.

When I finally reached the hospital parking lot, I was itching with tension. I pushed the button, unbuckled my seat belt, reached back and grabbed the stuff, slid out, and pushed the button as I was walking away. I walked around puddles and stayed well out of the way of on-coming cars. When I reached the hospital doors, they opened in front of me. Motion activated, and super fast.

I kept walking into the chilly, hospital main floor. I walked past the head desk, nodded to Vanessa the desk worker while passing, and headed straight for the elevator.

I got in, and quickly pressed the eighth floor button. I rocked back and forth impatiently as the dinky little elevator music played. I never liked this hospitals choice in elevator music. I was already impatient already and that music wasn't helping.

Just when I thought was going to rip the little speaker out of its place, the elevator doors opened. I speeded walked out of that elevator and down the hallway, not even bothering to check the door numbers as I passed them. I've been down this hallway so many times, you could put a blindfold over my face and I would still be able to stop right in front of room 131, Shane's room. I took a deep breath and opened the door carefully with one hand.

Nurse Amy and Emily were running through Shane's stretches. They looked up when I came in.

"Good-evening Rose." Nurse Amy said as I walked in. Emily looked at the bag I was caring.

"What'cha got today Rose." I set the bag down on the window seat and started to pull stuff out, naming them as I went.

"I have Rainbow Sour Extremes, the radio, a flashlight, some Christmas lights, banners, a drawing of a cat I drew and….Cars the movie?" I don't remember putting that in there. Jess was a big movie fan so maybe she slid it in my bag when we were doing homework in my room yesterday.

"You sure did bring a lot today." Nurse Amy said while bending Shane's right leg.

"Well….the Cars movie isn't mine. I think Jess might have slipped it in while we were doing homework yesterday. But all the rest is mine." I was standing up on the window seat. I was going to hang the banners here. When I hit the nails in I tried to do it as light as I could so it wouldn't disturb the rest of the patients too much.

After I was done with the banner, I went to go help Nurse Amy and Emily with Shan's exercises. We bent his legs, arms and back as well as opening his eyes, pinching him, massaging him, putting ice packs and hot packs on him, shining the flashlight in his eyes, and switching the position he was in.

We did all this to try and get him to respond to the sense of touch by changing his position, changing his skin temperature, or giving him a little pain with the pinches. None of this worked (I almost cried), so we moved on to the sense of taste.

Shane was fed by a tube inserted into his belly, but that didn't give him any flavors, so I brought a different thing each day to give him a little something to taste. Today I had picked the Rainbow Sour Extremes.

I walked over to the window seat, grabbed the pack of Extremes, and walked back over. Nurse Amy held his mouth open and I laid the strip on his tongue.

"OK Shane, this is called Rainbow Sour Extremes. I hope you like them." I said with hope in my voice. I waited a moment than said, "How is it Shane? Is it as sour as they say it is?" Nothing, and just like that my hope disappeared like fog hit by the sun.

I stood back up striate with a deep sigh. Nurse Amy didn't say anything.

"Alright!" Emily said clapping her hands. "The Christmas lights look absolutely divine!" While we were giving Shane the Extremes, Emily had rapped the lights around the end of the hospital bed. She was right, they did look pretty good.

"Well, we'll be going now Rose." Nurse Amy said as she walked towards the door with Emily following. When the door shut, I was all alone in the hospital room again, with Shane. I turned, pulled up one of the plastic chairs and sat down beside his bed.

"Hey Shane. Today was a pretty eventful day so far. My cousin, Raven, will be coming over in two days. I've been wondering what she will be like. Mom says she's a nice girl but her definition of a nice girl and my definition are two totally different things. Do you think she'll be nice by my definition?" Shane didn't respond besides the steady beat of the heart monitor. A silent tear rolled down my face.

"Me and Mac had a paint fight today while painting a mural. Mrs. Crow and I teamed up on him with a sneak attack, and then Jess and Eithen dunked me with ice cold water. That's why my hair is wet." I wanted him to respond so bad I could die. I couldn't begin to describe the way I felt right now; the tears streaming down my face and falling down onto Shane's bed.

I took his hand in mine. It was cold, with just a hint of warmth. I'd give up my own soul just so he could move and talk again, so his hand would warm like they were before the day that ruined my life.

"Shane," I sobbed. "Please, PLEASE wake up. It's almost the Fourth….A-and you made me a p-promise. You h-h-have to wake up Shane…y-you have to!"

He didn't even move, not a sound escaped his lips. I cried more and put my head down on his bed, my hair splayed out around me like a river of strawberry blond. I stayed there and cried until I finally….fell asleep.

**Tree Jumping**

"Rose! Rose! Wake up! Come on Rose! You have to get back to school sweety!" I blinked my eyes open, and saw Nurse Amy leaning over me with a worried look on her face.

I jumped up and looked at the clock. 8:30! Holy snickers! I was way late. I raced past Nurse Amy and burst into the hall. Luckily, Nurse Amy had an elevator waiting for me.

I raced into it, whipped around and pressed the 1st floor button. As the elevator doors closed, I saw Nurse Amy bustling to the elevator.

"Thanks Nurse Amy!" She smiled politely and waved. I waved back and the elevator doors closed, leaving me by myself, with that stupid elevator music playing.

As I was tapping my foot impatiently, waiting for it to reach floor number one, I realized that I hadn't said good-bye to Shane. For the first time in _ten fricken years_ I forgot to say good-bye.

I burst into tears.

_Shane… _I thought,_ I'm sorry! So sorry! Good-bye Shane. I'll come back tonight and make it up to you! I promise!_

When the elevator doors finally opened, I rushed out into the main floor, straight past Vanessa, and out into the parking lot. I pressed the button to open my doors as I walked towards my car. Once I reached my car I slid in, pressed the button again, and buckled my seat belt. I had to get back ASAP or my teachers would kill me.

I drove as fast as I could without breaking the speed limit, which was hard. When I finally pulled into Bellford Academy parking garage, it was 8: 53, my fastest time yet.

I got out, locked my car and ran to the stairs. I didn't have time to wait for their elevator (which was so slow a snail could beat it up). I ran down those stairs so fast I tripped four times, but luckily there was no falling included.

I only had three flights to run down so I made it to the ground pretty quick. Once I was in the courtyard, it was a head-on dash to the main school building. I took the short cut though the trees, and found something very unexpected….Ethan.

When I first saw him, he was looking up into the largest cherry tree we had on campus. What is he doing out here? And at class time too! I was just about to ask him what he was doing when he did something I really didn't expect.

He jumped up, grabbed the lowest branch, and hauled himself up. Then he reached out to the next nearest branch, and swung on to that one. He repeated this pattern until he was so high up in the tree; I could hardly see him anymore.

I was straining to see him, when he jumped from one to the highest branches to the next branch in another tree almost a foot away. My jaw fell to the ground.

"Holy snickers…" I muttered to myself. I watched mouth open like a bat cave, as Ethan jumped tree to tree very fast. I had to run at full speed too keep up with him. Then he finally stopped because he was out of trees. We were at the edge of campus and I was completely out of breath.

When he realized he was out of trees, he made his way to the ground by swinging and flipping around branches until he reached the ground panting. I was watching from behind a maple tree, waiting to see if he did something else amazing, like maybe grow a monkey tail and ears, but he didn't. He just took long beep breaths while lying sprawled out on the ground.

I smiled and walked out from behind the tree. He didn't see me because his eyes were closed, but as I walked towards him, my feet snapped twigs and crunched leaves and he heard that.

He sat up in surprise and looked around to see who was approaching.

"R-Rose!" He scrambled up and I laughed as he did so.

"Hey Ethan." I said with my hands held behind my back.

"Did…Did you see that?"  
>"By that, if you mean you hopping from tree to tree like Tarzan than yes, I did see that." I said smiling.<p>

Ethan didn't know what to do or say. He looked like I just caught him robbing a bank.

"Ethan, are you ok? If you think I think this is bad, then you're wrong. I think that it was amazing! How did you learn to do that!

With my complements Ethan smiled.

"You really think it's cool?"

"Yeah! What else would I think it was…scary?"

"I guess it is pretty cool." He said sliding his hands in his front pants pockets. He looked at the ground and said in an excited voice,

"You want to try it?" I took a shocked step back.

"Me! Do that tree jumping thing? No way!" I would never be able to do that!" Ethan looked up and walked forward.

"Come on Rose, its real fun, and I'll start you off low to the ground, or if you prefer, we could just climb up the tree until you feel comfy with it and leave out the jumping until later." The second option didn't sound too bad, so I replied,

"Alright Ethan, but only climbing no jumping, got it?"

"You got it Rose, now I think we should start with the great oak. It's the easiest to climb."

"Sounds good to me; lead the way." I said gesturing the way towards the great oak. Again Ethan smiled and ambled on past me. I followed quietly, wondering what it was going to be like climbing a tree.

"Hey Rose, were here." I shook my head and focused on Ethan. _That was quick. I'm surprised I didn't run into a tree or something._WHAM! I winced in pain as my head hit a low hanging branch. _Thought to soon._

"AAHAHAHAHAAAHAHHH!" I looked over at Ethan crossly while rubbing my forehead. "I'm….Haha…sorry Rose…but that was just too funny not to laugh. Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face!Ha!" I silenced him with one stone glare.

He cleared his throat and continued to speak.

"So, I'll go up the third highest branch, and then you'll climb up and I'll help you and show you how to get up the fastest."

"Look, I don't care about speed. I want safety, you hear me?"

"Rose, do you really think I would let you fall?" He said looking at me (for the first time) with complete trust and confidence that I couldn't deny.

"No, now get up there so we can start. I'm rearing to go." Actually, I was so nerves it was like I was waiting in line at the dentist office, and I was next in line. But I hid my nervousness and put on a brave face.

"OK, now watch where I put my feet, and hands and copy me as best as you can."

"Watch your feet and hands, copy you, got it; now go" He slid his right foot in a large notch in the tree trunk, and shoved his body upwards. His left foot found a little woodpecker hole.

"When you find things like this…." Ethan said while still trying to hold on. "You should use you're…. Foot to widen it and….ugh….and make it foot sized." Seemed like staying in one position was for a long time got really tiring; I made a mental note and leaned forward to get a closer look at how he was gripping the tree.

Ethan took a deep breath and bent his left leg back, and swung it forward into the little woodpecker hole, sending splinters flying. Now it was much bigger and his foot could easily fit inside.

"Wow, that's a neat little trick." But he didn't reply because he was too busy pulling himself up onto the closest branch. After that he quickly made it to the third branch. He turned around and sat down on the branch.

"Your turn now." He said smiling.

"Ummmm…O-ok…" I walked hesitantly forward and put my right foot in the notch that Ethan showed me. Then I raised myself up and stuck my left foot in the now foot sized woodpecker hole. _Hey, this an't so hard!_ I thought as I pushed myself up further.

"N-Now what?" I asked Ethan as I looked around for another notch or something in the bark to help me up.

"Just grab my hand and I'll pull you up." I looked up and saw Ethan leaning dangerously forward, with his hand outstretched towards me.

I made sure both of my feet were stable before even thinking off reaching out for his hand. Once I checked and made sure I was not going to fall, I stretched my right arm out and into Ethan's left hand.

He pulled back with all his might and raised me up to the first branch. I swung my arms around the thick branch and struggled to get high enough to swing my legs around the branch, but I finally did.

By the time I was sitting atop the branch, I was gasping for breath and Ethan had completely recovered.

"You ready for the next branch? It'll be a lot easier than climbing up than trunk because the branches give you leverage and something to push off of." I looked up at next branch. It wasn't too far away, and I still felt good so I decided to keep going.

I slowly, very slowly started to stand up to reach the next branch. When my hands were close enough, I griped, gathered my courage, and jumped.

I hung there, my legs flaring around and taking deep ragged breaths.

"Haul yourself up using your arms and the momentum from your legs!" Ethan yelled at me. He sounded really worried, and (for some weird reason) I was infuriated by that.

A new wave of determination came over me and I pulled up with all the strength I could muster. I was determined to show Ethan that I could do it, and I did.

"Yeah!" Ethan said pumping his fist in the air. "You did it!"

"Course….." pant pant "I did…" pant pant. That sure did take a lot out of me. Next time I would pay more attrition to how Ethan dose it and follow his example closer.

"OOOOkayyyyyyy…on to the next branch." I groaned, how could he do this? I could hardly make it up one branch let alone a whole tree, but I watched and followed Ethan up, branch by branch with plenty of brakes.

"Rose, we are at the top." I was lying on my chest on a rather thin branch but still sturdy. I knew I was going to be sore tomorrow. I carefully pushed myself up until I was sitting up, my back resting on the trunk.

"Wow. Now I see why you do this." The view was amazing. I could see all of Bellford and almost the whole city. Below us the cherry trees looked like those pink clouds you see at sunsets. It was amazing.

"Yeah, pretty breath-taking an't it?" Ethan said, kicking back against the tree trunk.

"I'll say." I said looking around.

"Well…this is nothing compared to actual jumping. When you jump its….its….it's like you're flying, until you land on the next branch."

"Ethan…no… I said only tree _climbing_ NO tree_ jumping_."

"I know, I know I was just telling you." He said looking at me. I _was_ having a lot of fun, and this tree climbing lessons could be prove really useful in many ways.

"Hey, Ethan…." I asked him while looking out at the town. "Why did you keep this tree jumping thing a secret from us?"

"I…well…I don't really know why. I guess I thought that you guys would think it was wired like you said earlier."

"If you like doing it, than you shouldn't be ashamed of it. Plus, I thought you were cool, not wired when I saw you."

"I do love tree jumping, and when I'm not going one mile an hour, it just feels so….so…" He searched for the right word. "Super, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, when I saw you tree jumping, it looked like you were really enjoying yourself. And you also looked like Spider man, minis the outfit." Ethan laughed and put his hands behind his head.

"It feels like it too. Another bonus is the birds. If you come up here enough, the birds will get used to you and land real close to you."

"Has a bird landed by you yet?"

"Not yet, but tomorrow I'm going to by some bird seed to put in my hand. If I'm real quiet, and patient, they will eat from my hand."

"Do you think I can come?"

"Well, Yeah sure if you want to, but you have to be real good at sitting still."

"I don't think you can find anyone more able to be quiet than me." Ethan laughed.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it, now we better get down and get back to school while we still have a little bit of class left."

"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot about class! Our teachers are going to murder us!" I started to climb down in a rush.

"H-Hey! Not so fast Rose!" I heard Ethan scrambling down behind me. _Ah crap! If Mom finds out I skipped class to climb some trees….. I'm dead!_

I was almost to the ground when my foot slipped. I fell backwards, and scrammed.

"Rose!" I saw Ethan jump from a branch to another branch about a foot down.

I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for impact, but someone caught me.

The person's arms were warm, but pale, and he fell backwards when he caught me. I heard his breath rush out off him as he fell to the ground with me on top of him.

Who had caught me, and why?

**New Student**

"Ah man that hurts." The person groaned from underneath me. I rolled of off the person and turned to look at him.

He had a perfect, pale face, red, red hair that was in neat orderly spikes. It wasn't like a dirty, weak red most red heads had. It was like his head was on fire. His eyes were a bright aquarium blue with flecks of brown in then that totally contrasted his fiery hair. He was wearing a Bellford Academy uniform but I didn't recognize him. Oh and did I mention that he was drop-dead gorgeous?

"Rose! Rose are you OK?" I heard Ethan yelling as he jumped onto the ground.

"Y-yea, Ethan I'm fine." I stuttered out.

"That's good to hear." The red haired boy wheezed out. I scrambled up and said,

"I'm so sorry about squishing you….ummmmm…"

"Axel, the names Axel Wade." Ethan ran over to us and said,

"Well thanks Axel. I told Rose to not go down so fast." Ethan held out his hand and helped me up. Axel got up on his own.

"Why were you two climbing a tree anyway?" Axel asked while whipping the dirt off his back.

"Cause we wanted to." I replied to him pulling leaves out of my hair. When I saw someone I thought was cute, I always went into tough mode. I didn't mean to! It was just like a really bad habit. What I really wanted to say was, 'Oh, nothing. Just hanging around.' Oh god that would sound even worse.

"You do know that you're missing class right?" Axel said raising his eyebrows.

"So are you." I snapped back. Crap, what was I doing! Snapping at the guy who just possibly saved my life? I must be really messed up in the head. There was also the fact that Axel may just be the hottest guy on earth.

"I guess you're right, but I have a good reason. I had to run to the office to get something." He gave me a dazzling half smile that almost stopped my heart. I was 100% sure I hadn't seen this guy before (trust me, both Jess and me would have noticed).

"Thanks for catching Rose…Axel," Ethan said. "But we have to go, were already late enough." He said walking away.

"Ethan's right, we have to. Bye, Axel , thanks for catching me and it was nice meeting you." I called running after Ethan. I should have stayed longer, but I wanted to find Jess and tell her all about the hot boy by the name of Axel Wade.

"No problem… Rose!" Axel waved as I walked away. He didn't stop until I disappeared behind the tree trunks.

The walk back to the school building was quiet, until I asked,

"Who do you think that was?" I was just saying that because it was way to quiet for me. I still had Axe's amazing smile stuck in my head.

"I don't know Rose. He had a Bellford uniform but I didn't know his face. Did you?" I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and played along.

"Y-yeah, that's exactly what I thought when I first saw him. Maybe he is a new student just coming in." Wrong; the first thing I thought was _'Damn he's hot!'_.

"That could be…." Ethan said as he pushed the doors of the main school building open. "But Bellford hardly takes in new students in the middle of the year like this."

"Yeah, your right, this is pretty weird. I'll ask Jess if she knows anything about it." Jess's sister, Stella, was the head of the newspaper club. Stella knew everything and anything there was to know about Bellford and it students, and she was always spreading the news around (so she should definitely know about Axel). The first person to hear the news she digs up would be Jess because she is her sister, and they share a room together. I would ask Stella directly but if I did she would go on and on about something completely unrelated.

"Good- idea, she should know something. Now you better hurry or Ms. Cablemen will fail you."

Ms. Cablemen was my English teacher. She was alright. Not the best teacher but not the worst.

"And you better hurry to Mr. Parker." Mr. Parker was the science teacher. He was…how do I put this….weird. Not really mean, just weird. His room smelled like compost and he was always chewing on some kind of root when he wasn't lecturing to us about the importance of recycling and saving our planets energy.

"I know, see you later!" he said sprinting down the hallway waving as he went. I smiled and waved back until he rounded the corner. Then I sighed and continued on to Ms. Cablemen's class.

When I got there, Ms. Cablemen was reading a poem by someone I didn't know. She didn't pay me any attention as I quietly entered the class room and sat down in my seat next to Stella. Jess was sitting in the front taking notes so it looked like I was going to have to wait till after class to ask her about Axel.

I knew we had a test coming up so I pulled out my lap top and started to follow along with the teacher as quickly as I could. When the bell finally rang, I had four full pages on Microsoft Word and half of a fifth page. I slid my lap top into my case and quickly left to try and catch up with Jess.

As I was walking down the hall way, I saw a crowd of people around the newspaper stand. Usually I walked past that thing like it was a tree, but today I wanted to know what the deal was. When I got to the crowd, the front cover story was, NEW STUDENT PRESIDENT, in big bold letters.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. I didn't care about things like that.

"Rose!Over here!" I looked around and saw Jess standing by the large windows in the hallway. I ran over and said

"Hey, do you know anything about a boy named Axel?" She shook her head

"Nope, but did you hear the news? There's going to be a new pres. in Bellford."

"Yeah, I heard but I really don't care and you know that. Anyway, I was out by the cherry trees taking a_" I was cut off by the intercom.

"_Attention to all the students of Bellford Academy," _It was the Headmaster. The hallway grew quiet as they all listened to the Headmaster speak. _"There will be an assembly in the auditorium in ten minutes. All students are expected to be present and accounted for. That is all, good-day to you all." _Then the intercom went off and slowly everyone started to head to the auditorium. Jess smiled and said to me,

"I think the Headmaster is going to announce the new student council president. Come on, I don't want to miss this." Then she started to walk to the auditorium following everyone else. I groaned and trudged after her.

The auditorium was huge. It had over 100 seats and the front stage was do big you could have a rodeo on there. It was brightly lit and students were quickly filling up all the seats. My group always sat in the fourth row from the front, always. It was like our spots and everyone else knew that to so they stayed clear of those four seats. There was one of Macs car building buddies that sat in a fifth seat. I think his name was...Colton Skye. Yeah, that was it, Colton Skye, or Colt for short. He had short dark brown hair, blue-green eyes and he could get annoying a lot but he was OK most of the time.

"Rose!Jess! Over here!" I heard Mac's yell over the sound of the talking students. We both looked down the ramp aisle thingy and saw Mac waving his arm around. Ethan and Colt were looking over the seats at us smiling. We smiled back and jogged over to them.

My seat was on the very edge, right next to the aisle. Jess sat beside me, than Ethan then Mac and Colt was at the end next to some other kid I didn't know. When I took my seat, I said,

"Hey Colt! Long time no see." He stretched up to see me over Mac, Ethan and Jess's head and waved a little.

"Yeah, same to you." He said it in what I think was supposed to be a sexy voice. I rolled my eyes and sat back down, sliding my lab top back off my shoulder and in front of me. That was what I meant when I said annoying. I was cute I guess, I didn't think I was hot or anything. I've had only three boyfriends and none of them made me actually feel…. However they were suppose to feel. I single right now and I thought Colt was trying to change that. Sometimes I really just wanted to slap him, but I restrained myself because Colt was Macs friend. If it wasn't for that I would have a long time ago.

"Attention all students of Bellford Academy:" All the talking got quieter until there was no talking at all. The lights dimmed until the only light was the spot light on stage. The Headmaster cleared his throat and continued to speak. "As I am sure you all know, our proud student president Dustin Dohon is graduating early and we need a replacement. The Vise President does not think he is ready to take over so we have brought in a new student to take over." The auditorium filled with shocked mummers.

"Are they serious?" I heard Ethan say to Jess. She nodded her head and said,

"That's what Stella told me, and Sella's news is 98% reliable, so believe what you want to." Then the Headmaster spoke, getting everyone quiet.

"Settle down now, settle down; now as I was saying, we have a new Student President and I summoned you here to introduce you all to him. Please give a warm welcome to Axel Wade."

"Axel Wade?" Both Ethan and I said at the same time. I thought they had to be talking about a different Axel, but sure enough, there was the same Axel that saved me from my fall, strolling onto stage like he owned the world.

I heard the girls behind me jump with surprise and everyone else did just about the same thing, even Jess but she didn't as much as the others.

Axel smiled, waved and spoke into the microphone that Headmaster handed to him. "First, I would like to say thank you Headmaster for allowing me to come to this beautiful school and better yet to become the Student President." The Headmaster smiled and said,

"No problem at all. I took a good look at your rename and was happy to allow you in Bellford."

"I am very grateful for that. The next thing I would like to say is that I will try my hardest to be a president that each and every one of you will be proud of." Axel said looking at the crowd with a soft, cute smile on his face.

Then Axel found me in the crowd. He smiled even wider and said while looking directly at me, "As Student Council President, it I my obligation and pleasure to make sure our students of Bellford are happy and well satisfied with school life here." The auditorium was filled with cheers Axel took a bow, and handed the mic back to the e Headmaster. As he was walking off stage, his bright aquamarine blue, brown flecked eyes never left my emerald green eyes.

"I hope Axel pleases you all in his job as Student Council President. There will be no more school today. All students are to report back to their dorms. Good-day." Then he walked off stage following Axel. The light came back on and the spot light went off. Everyone started to file out. I stood up, slung my lab top bag over my shoulder and walked out into the aisle.

"Rose! Rose!" I heard Mac calling my name. I looked around and saw him just coming out of the aisle right behind Ethan. "Let's head to your dorm." I nodded and walked up the rap/aisle to the closest exit door.

Once I was out, I waited for Mac, Ethan, Jess, and Colt patiently on the wall.

"Alright! To Rose's dorm." Mac said when we were all together again. We all laughed and headed off to my dorm. We usually hung out there because my room was much bigger than everyone else. We talked and joked the whole way there. Just about half way there, Colt challenged everyone to a race so we ran the rest of the way.

When we reached the dorm, I was there first. Everyone was panting and thirsty so we headed inside. Mrs. Quick stopped us at the desk. In the dorms, the opposite gender wasn't allowed inside. So the boys weren't allowed in the girl dorm, and vice-versa. The only way you could get in is if you had the person you planed to be with inside with you and they had to tell the desk worker that they were with them, so it went sorta like this.

"Hello Mrs. Quick, these boys are with me. I allow them in." Mrs. Quick nodded and let us past. We all piled in the elevator, and slowly went up to the top floor.

"Next time, I am going to win Rose." Colt said as we all steeped out of the elevator and onto my floor. He came in second in the race. I laughed and said,

"You know, 2nd place is the first loser. That has to count for something right, Colt?"

"Ah shut up! I'll get you one day, you just wait." Colt said as I punched in my keypad pass code. Mac laughed and slapped him on the back saying,

"Ah, you can't beat Rose in running. Its her favorite thing to do."

"Not true Mac." Jess said following me into my room. "Horse back riding is your favorite thing, right Rose?"

"Yup, horseback riding is my favorite but running comes in a close second." I said setting my bag on the coffee table in the living room. Ethan shut the door and said,

"I'm hungry, and one else the same?" Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"I think I have some pizza in the kitchen. Let me go check." I was just about to head into the kitchen when Mac said,

"Hold on! I have something for you Rose." He dug around in his gym bag and pulled out an X-Box Kinetic and a bunch of games.

"Mac! You got me an X-Box Kinetic!" Well that explained why he was so careful with his gym bag on the way up. Mac smiled a big huge cheesy smile and nodded. He started to pull out a lot of games. He pulled out Kinectimals, Dance Central, Sonic Free Riders, Motion sports, and Fighters Uncaged.

"You need some kind of console in here and I thought this was the perfect thing for you. I know you don't like to just sit around and you can't really keep up with controllers so I got you the X-Box Kinetic because your body is the controller and you can't lose yourself." He had a point. I was a GO kinda girl, and I could never keep up with controllers. In fact I lost one of Macs Wii remotes and two of his Play station controllers.

"Hey, Ethan, could you hook this thing up for me? Your better at it than me." Mac said to Ethan. Ethan smiled and walked over.

"Sure, it'll be easy." He took the X-Box Kinetic and the little motion sensor thingy and hunkered down on the floor in front of my huge plasma.

"See Colt, I told you having a nerd hang with us would come in handy one day." Jess joshed as she flopped down on my big white couch. Colt laughed I heard Ethan say,

"HEY!" From behind the TV. We all laughed, I could tell this was going to be a fun night.

**X-Box, pizza, Dr. Pepper, and kiss**

"Rooooose! How much longer until the pizza is done! I'm starving here!" Mac complained while whacking an ugly bearded guy with his foot. He was playing Fighters Uncaged with Jess, and they were fighting a gang that was called Red Eyed Snakes with the rest of their gang of the Black Wolfs.

"Mac, it will be finished when it's finished and Jess behind you!" I warned Jess just in time so she duck out of the way of a lunging ignoramus black guy covered in tattoos. Mac turned around and punched the guy in his gut casing him to go down.

This X-Box Kinetic was amazing. All you needed was yourself and a friend and you could raise a baby tiger, beat up gangs, beat each other in a race, or dance your heart out. What was really cool was how your character dose the same thing you do but on the screen. It was crazy insane. I asked Ethan how it worked earlier, and he shot off with a bunch of technical talk. (Thank the lord) Mac had pulled him away to race him in Sonic Free Riders.

"Could you at least go check on it please?" Mac said in a puppy dog voice. "I can smell it already and it smells sssoooo good." I sighed, and got up.

"Fine, I'll go check on it." It was almost time to check on it anyways. I walked down my short hallway and turned into the kitchen door way. Mac was right, the smell of the extra cheese pizza I had put in earlier was filling my room. It grabbed a towel and opened the fancy silver oven and sure enough, the pizza was ready. I carefully stuck my arm in the super hot oven and grabbed the pan it was cooking on. Then I slowly pulled it out trying my best not to burn myself.

I made it successfully out of the oven and onto the black granite counter without getting any burns at all. I smiled and called out, "HEY! PEOPLE!FOODS READY!" Then I heard Mac yell back,

"GREAT! AND WHY ARE WE SHOUTING!" I heard the sound of the game being paused and feet coming to the kitchen. Jess showed up first.

"Man dose that smell good!" She said sucking in a deep breath through her nose to get a good whiff of the cheesy goodness on the counter top.

Ethan came in next, and he stopped to admire the pizza in the door way, blocking Colt from getting in.

"Ethan, you can't have the whole pizza to yourself so MOVE IT." Colt said pushing Ethan into the kitchen and out of his way. Jess caught Ethan before he could face plant on the tiled floor.

I gave Colt a dirty look but he didn't see because he was pulling out a dry plate from my washer-machine. I looked at Mac and he just shrugged his shoulders and walked over to get himself a plate.

"Rose, do you have anything to drink?" Mac asked while dropping pieces of pizza on his plate. I spun around on my heel to face my fridge. I pulled the doors open and saw our choices.

"Yup, we have Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Coke, and Cream Soda." Dr. Pepper was my favorite so I had two twelve cases of those. The other stuff only had one twelve pack each.

"I'll have a Coke, waitress." Mac said walking out of the kitchen with his plate of pizza in hand. I rolled my eyes and said,

"Ethan, what do you want?" He thought for a moment then said,

"I'll have a Sprite." Then he followed Mac out. Jess was right behind him when she said, "Dr. Pepper!" I nodded and pulled out one Coke, one Sprite and two Dr. Peppers. Then I remembered Colt was here.

"Hey Colt! What do you want to drink?" I yelled, but I didn't need to yell, because Colt was still in the kitchen.

"I'm not really that thirst, but thanks anyway." My head was still in the fridge so I couldn't see him. I pulled my head back out and closed the fridge with my foot, while trying not to drop all the sodas. I wasn't looking where I was going and ran straight into Colt who was standing in the doorway.

" 'Woulda mind not blocking the doorway so people could get through?"

He didn't respond. He just walked forward and backed me up against the counter. "Colt, what are you_" I was cut off by Colt's lips meeting mine. My eyes widened in shock and I tried to push away from him but he was to big. I felt his tongue on my lips and was disgusted. I kept pushing and beating on his chest trying to make him get off but he clung to me like a cobweb. Then I remembered that my mother had taught me what to do in a situation like this. It was a simple one-step process that guaranteed that Colt would let me go. I narrowed my eyes and brought my right knee up, fast and hard.

He let out a loud grunt and fell to the floor, clutching his very much hurting spot. I gridded my teeth and kicked him in his stomach, and said ;in a very threateningly voice,

"You EVER try that again, Mac will have to buy flowers for your funeral, got it!" I didn't wait for a response. I kicked him again and stomped out of the kitchen.

When I reached the living room, Mac and Jess were just finishing up the last few people of the Red Eyed Snakes gang. Ethan was cheering them on while eating his pizza from one of my chairs. I stomped over to the love seat and sat down. Ethan noticed my aggravation and asked,

"Hey, Rose, you ok?" His worried tone made Mac pause the game and look as me along with Jess. I sighed heavily and said,

"Nothing" In a tone that Mac, Ethan and Jess knew well. It was the tone that said, 'Don't feel like talking about it, leave me alone.'. I used that tone very much. So they did what my voice asked and went back to playing their game, but not before Mac said,

"Rose, are you going to keep those drinks all to yourself?" Mac asked pointing at the ice-cool drinks still in my hand. I had not dropped them while I was assaulted in the kitchen. That was when I realized my arms and chest where I had been holding were praticaly frozen.

"N-no! Take them please! My hands are freezing off here." I said trying my best to smile with warmth, but that didn't fool my friends. They still knew I was upset but they didn't ask why. They just took their drinks from me and continued to play the X-Box Kinetic. Soon I was swept up in their happy mood, not wanting to dwell on the negative aspects of the day.

Then Mac had to go and blow my happy mood by saying, "Has anyone seen Colt?" My hand clenched around the Dr. Pepper can I was holding making it crack and make popping sounds. All eyes went immediately to me. I ground my teeth together trying my best not to yell, 'I don't know, and I cont care! He could jump of a thirty sortie building and I would grab a box popcorn and watch with a video camera!' but I had to say something so I said with great self control,

"I don't know. He must have left early." There was a long silence before Ethan stretched, yawned and said

"Its getting pretty late, we should get back to our dorms." Bellford didn't really have a curfew but all boys were expected to be out of the girls dorm by midnight and it was 11:43. Soon Mrs. Quick would be on her way up to check the dorms. The same thing would happen in the boys dorm except that it would be Mr. Quick and he would be looking for girls not boys.

"Yeah, I agree with Ethan. Lets all hit the sack." Mac said turning the X-Box Kinetic off. Jess nodded her head. She looked dead beat, good thing tomorrow was a Friday. No school thank the lord. I could use a few extra hours of sleep and it looked like Jess could to.

" 'K guys, 'night." Jess said trudging out into the hallway and into the elevator not even waiting for Mac and Ethan. They would have to take the slower one down. Right before Mac was out the door I remembered something.

"Mac, my cousin Raven is coming over and I would really appreciate it if you come and wait for her with me." I was asking Mac because he wouldn't mind missing a class or two like Ethan would. Plus Jess was already gone.

"You have a cousin?" Mac repeated the same question I did when Mom had told me.

"Apparently, and shes coming over in two days." Mac thought for a moment and replied,

"Sure, that's no problem. Just call me tomorrow and tell me where and when she'll get here. I'll be ready."

"Thanks Mac, and good night." Mac smiled one of his huge cheesy smiles and said,

"Right back at ya." Winked and left. Now I was sitting alone in my living room, with no company besides my thoughts (which was a bad thing). I shook my head and picked up all the dishes and cups. I grabbed my plate which still had pizza on it and headed to the kitchen.

I set the dishes in the sink and walked to my room, with my pizza and another Dr. Pepper in my hands. I plopped down on my bed and grabbed the remote, and pressed on.

Across the room, I had a large entertainment center that was all black with the cabinet door made out of glass. On top of it I had pictures of my and my mom, along with some of her co-workers a picture of Nruse Amy and me, and one of my Horse Selene, named after the Greek Goddess of the moon. She was all black with a whiter then snow tail and mane.

All of these pictures were positioned so that the little opening in the entertainment center wouldn't be blocked. It couldn't be blocked because the TV had to come out of the little opening. I took a bite out of my pizza and opened my can of . I sighted and laid back. The sound of crackling plastic made my jump.

I turned my head and saw a bundle of roses wrapped in clear plastic sitting on my pillow. My first thought was, how did I miss that when I first came in? My second thought was who in the hell had gotten in my room and put the roses there in the first place! This was a little freaky.

I looked around and nothing seemed to be missing or broken. I turned my gaze back to the blood red flowers laying on _my_ pillow. I stretched my arm out and grabbed the stems and pulled the strong scented flowers to me. I looked in them but I didn't see card in it. Weird, usually a secret admirer would leave a note like, 'I will love you forever' or 'I shall always be admiring you from afar'. Pretty creepy if I say so my self.

I yawned, stretched and set the roses on my nightstand. I should be more concerned about this, but I was to tired to be worried. I would try and find out tomorrow, but right now all I wanted to do was curl up on my bed and cry from a while. That was how I went to sleep pretty much every night. I cried myself to sleep wishing that Shane would wake up. In my dreams, he was awake and very lively. That was why if I was troubled, or wanted to escape the world for an hour or two, I would fall asleep and lose myself in my fantasy world where Shane was awake and I had a friend that was a unicorn (not really, i'm just adding that in to add to the fact that it was a fantasy world).

As every day passed, my hope of him waking up would become smaller and smaller. Once the Fourth passed, I didn't think I would have any more hope in me. My hope-meter was almost empty now, but I still had enough to go against the doctors.

I frowned and flipped over, pulling my covers over me as I did so. I heard the movie start to play. It was How To Train Your Dragon. It was my favorite movie, I know it was more of a child movie but I just felt attracted to it for some weird reason. I loved the graphics and the way they made Toothless and Hiccup look so real. When I watched the directors cut on the special features, I realized I hadn't once thought of the characters as just computer generated drawings. I had always thought of them as real people, and dragons.

I wasn't listening to the movie thought, I was crying on my already tear stained pillows. And that was how I fell asleep, crying, just like every other night.

**Raven Waterfeather**

Ms. Silver! Ms. Sliver! Oh for lords sake, MS. SILVER! Wake up!" I woke to the sound of someone shouting at like a lunatic. I blinked a few times then opened my eyes fully to see who was yelling at me so early in the morning, and on a Friday to.

It was the Headmaster, and he didn't look happy at all. I yawned and propped myself up with one elbow. While rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I asked,

"Yeah, what is it Headmaster?" Usually I would have been stumbling to get out of bed and greet the Headmaster properly, but not right now. I was NOT a morning person at all. It was a mericale that I could get up so early every day, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday were my sleep in days. I was (and always will be) angry at someone who woke me up early on one of my sleeping days. Whether it would be Mac, my mom, or the Headmaster.

He groaned inwardly (probably because of my slow response) and said, "You must get up and be ready by noon today. I expect you to be present and presentable by that time. I will be waiting at the front gate and please don't keep me waiting Ms. Silver." I swung my legs off my bed and asked,

"May I be obliged as to know why I have to get up, be presentable, and be told to be at the front gate at noon so early on a Friday morning?" Ethan would be proud of my choice of words. The Headmaster looked at me then shot of on a long, long speech of why I had to wake up so early. I had to listen really closely to catch it all, but it did get a little fuzzy from time to time. I'll tell you what I heard.

"Ms. Silver, you have to wake up early because your cousin Raven Waterfeather will be arriving today instead of tomorrow. Your….." It got a little fuzzy their, but after that I heard, "…so her flight took of early and now she is…" fuzzed out again. "…so be at the front gate ready to go at noon today sharp." I stared at him for a moment, trying to process and connect what the Headmaster had just told me. I did get that I had to be at the gate, dresses properly and ready to go. Another thing I pieced together was that Raven was coming early.I groaned and got up, stretching while doing so.

As I trudged to my big walk-in in closet and asked the Headmaster, "What do you want me to wear, my uniform, casual clothes, or fancy clothes?" I asked him when he was leaving the room so one foot was in the hall and the other was still in my room.

The Headmaster thought for a moment then said, "Something casual but make it something that I would approve of." Then he walked all the way out of my room, slamming the door behind him. Translation: Make it something that shows hardly any skin, no 'bad words' on the clothes and not to much make up on the face.

I sighed and opened my double closet doors and stepped inside. My closet was color coded. I found it a lot easier to put to together outfits. My shirts were on the bottom racks and my pants on the top racks. My dresses were in a additional little room inside my shoes were lined up against the wall, and I had a large mirror on the wall next to my two big dressers.

While i was sorting through all of my shirts and pants the perfect outfit popped into my head.


End file.
